Sentence takes note of context

JUDGE Chris Nicholson referred in his judgment to numerous decisions in similar cases to that of McIntosh in which sentences ranged from no incarceration to as much as 20 years’ imprisonment.

He said that in his view, McIntosh never constituted a danger to society and a lengthy period of imprisonment would not be appropriate in her case.

“I believe one must adopt a contextual approach that takes cognisance of the socio-economic reality and constraints faced by abused women when imposing sentence on abused women who kill their abusive partners.

“While it may not excuse, in law, the conduct of abused women who feel forced to kill in circumstances where they reasonably believe their own lives to be at stake, it significantly affects the moral culpability of their conduct.

“Consequently it affects the appropriate sentence in such cases,” the judge said.

Join the conversation!

24.com encourages commentary submitted via MyNews24. Contributions of 200 words or more will be considered for publication.

We reserve editorial discretion to decide what will be published. Read our comments policy for guidelines on contributions.

24.com publishes all comments posted on articles provided that they adhere to our Comments Policy. Should you wish to report a comment for editorial review, please do so by clicking the 'Report Comment' button to the right of each comment.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

Saving your profile

Settings

News24 allows you to edit the display of certain components based on a location.
If you wish to personalise the page based on your preferences, please select a
location for each component and click "Submit" in order for the changes to
take affect.

Your Location*

Weather*

Always remember my setting

Saving your settings

Facebook Sign-In

Hi News addict,

Join the News24 Community to be involved in breaking the news.

Log in with Facebook to comment and personalise news, weather and listings.